Jon Ashworth

Education

Ashworth was born in Salford, raised in north Manchester and educated at Philips High School in Bury and Bury College before studying at the University of Durham. In 2000 he served as National Secretary of Labour Students.

Labour party officer

Ashworth began working for the Labour Party as a Political Research Officer in 2001, and was the Economics and Welfare Policy Officer from 2002 to 2004. In 2003 he was seconded to Scottish Labour Party to work on the Scottish Parliament election campaign where he worked closely with Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Special adviser

From 2004 he was appointed as Special Adviser to Chief Secretaries to the Treasury Paul Boateng, Des Browne and Stephen Timms, but in practice he worked for Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. His main job was liaising with the Labour movement and an Evening Standard profile said "his contact book was "stuffed with constituency officers and union organisers", and there was newspaper speculation that he would be Political Secretary at 10 Downing Street in a Brown government.

When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, Ashworth was appointed deputy Political Secretary with the role of linking the Government to the trade unions. There was speculation later that year that Ashworth might be selected to replace John Prescott as Labour candidate for Kingston upon Hull East, although it came to nothing. Ashworth spent most of the Crewe and Nantwich byelection campaign in the constituency.

After the Labour Party left government in May 2010, Ashworth became Political Secretary to the acting party leader Harriet Harman. He did not publicly support any candidate in subsequent leadership election because of his role working for Harriet Harman but he was described as a "key member" of Ed Miliband's team on the day after Miliband won the Labour leadership election. When Miliband won, he asked Ashworth to join his office as Head of Party Relations.

Parliamentary candidate

With a general election imminent, Ashworth was identified as someone who the Labour Party leadership wished to find a seat for. He was linked with a possible candidature in Mansfield should the sitting MP Alan Meale decide to stand down, but Meale decided to stand for re-election despite widespread speculation he was to announce his retirement. Ashworth was then identified as a potential candidate for Nottingham East when sitting MP John Heppell retired, but the selection went to former MP Chris Leslie when the Labour National Executive Committee chose to impose Leslie at the last minute.

Ashworth sought selection in Leicester South in 2011 when the sitting MP Sir Peter Soulsby decided to resign to seek election as Mayor of Leicester. He was immediately identified as the front-runner for the selection and was backed by the major trade unions including his own Unite, GMB and UNISON.

Ashworth was also endorsed by the Co-Operative Party and is also a Co-Operative Party MP. He was selected on the first ballot by the local party, and held the seat with an increased majority on 5 May 2011.

Labour Party Selections

Following the row over alleged undue influence of trade unions in the Labour Party in the Falkirk Parliamentary Selection in 2013, Ashworth penned a piece for the Daily Telegraph claiming that it is ordinary people – not the unions – who choose Labour MPs.

On 11 July 2013, Ashworth replaced Tom Watson on the National Executive Committee.

Labour Opposition 2015 –

Ashworth nominated Yvette Cooper to be Leader of the Labour Party in its election following the resignation of Ed Miliband in May 2015. He nominated Tom Watson as Deputy Leader.

Following his election as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn appointed Ashworth to the Shadow Cabinet role of Shadow Minister without Portfolio. He was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Health in October 2016.

In December 2015, Ashworth voted against the resolution to authorise RAF bombing of Syria.

Personal life

Ashworth became engaged to Emilie Oldknow, the East Midlands Regional Director for the Labour Party, in 2008. She was Labour candidate for Sherwood in the 2010 election, but could not hold the seat. Gordon and Sarah Brown attended their wedding on 3 July 2010 in Derbyshire. They have a daughter, Gracie, born in May 2011 shortly after his election, and a second daughter.